In electronics and circuitry, an overcurrent event typically occurs when a large electric current passes through a circuit component, e.g., a capacitor, a resistor, etc., that may not be rated to handle such a large current for a certain period of time.
In response to an overcurrent event, one or more circuit components such as a fuse or circuit breaker that are not rated to remain functional under such a large current typically create an open circuit.
In order to provide overcurrent protection for the load and/or source circuit components, one or more fuses have been implemented to serve as overcurrent sacrificial devices. Conventional fuses have very small serial resistance, causing there to be a very large pass-through current before the fuse blows upon occurrence of a short. This could cause some unwanted effect.